


isn't that what love is for?

by bluesandbirds



Series: the story of tonight [4]
Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Angst, Dream Smp, Family, Gen, Guilt, Implied/Referenced Character Death, No respawns, Technoblade and Wilbur Soot and TommyInnit are Siblings, dream vs. techno duel, l'manburg, tommy's still dead i'm still sorry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-12
Updated: 2020-10-12
Packaged: 2021-03-06 16:41:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,619
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26472043
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bluesandbirds/pseuds/bluesandbirds
Summary: It ends as all things on the server do. With a duel. With a countdown. With the knowledge that only one of them will walk away.show's about to startdon't be late
Relationships: Clay | Dream & TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF), Technoblade & TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF)
Series: the story of tonight [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1936111
Comments: 73
Kudos: 550





	isn't that what love is for?

**Author's Note:**

> i was like "whats the point, everyones doing election fics now and damn wilbur just went apeshit" but i watched sad-ist's animation over and over to motivate myself, bless them. a lot of the movements in this fic are inspired by the animation since i have no idea how fighting works. anyways, pls enjoy and be proud of me for getting this out.
> 
> Not me changing the title right after posting because it was a working title and i decided i hated it  
> title from "war!" by zach callison  
> lyrics from interlude iv by zach callison

_The arena was a nice touch,_ Technoblade muses, staring around at stone walls. Beyond the walls, the Dream SMP burns. The land which had taken so much from his family lays in ruins, buried in rubble and dreams.

The lake is now full of broken bricks and planks from houses that used to rest proudly in the water. Ponk's Lemon City is a smear of charcoal. He's almost— _almost_ —surprised at the sheer amount of destruction wreaked on Dream's land, but Wilbur's allies proved to be quite adept when handed flint, steel, and permission to leave nothing standing.

Technoblade and Dream are similar in that they are ruthless and relentless. When at war, they would stop at nothing to destroy each other, taking the world down with them if need be.

So, to prevent this ( _there is no instance of a country having benefitted from prolonged warfare),_ they settled on a final challenge.

A one versus one duel. Diamond armor. No enchantments. Weapons of choice. Only one walks away.

It's a private affair. All of Dream's allies are either unconscious or MIA. All of Techno's are healing up or visiting a dead boy.

Technoblade sits on one side of the arena. He examines his sword, noting his own glaring red eyes in the reflection.

Across the arena, Dream checks through his own weapons, methodically fiddling with his crossbow.

This man is nothing. Dream is just a soldier who thinks he's a god.

Fortunately, Techno's killed both.

The goal of a duel is this: force the opponent to yield.

But today, Technoblade is not interested in white flags, he's interested in red.

1.

He's standing in the doorway of his home, dirt on his fingers and a question on his lips.

Wilbur is staring up at him with broken eyes and Techno's first instinct is to destroy whoever made his big brother look like that. To grind whatever scum who dared touch his family into dust underneath the heel of his boot. He pushes that aside. Reason first. Murder later. Collect information, analyze the scene, find the problem. He takes it all in. Wilbur, sad. Phil, worried. Technoblade, confused. Tommy...

Techno's stomach drops. He voices his question, afraid of the answer he already feels. 

Wilbur's words are a dagger to his heart.

Nothing hurts Technoblade. He's impenetrable, invincible, unshakable. The Blood God. The Emperor of Ice. The Blade.

His brother and father are sobbing on the ground.

Tommy is dead.

He clenches his fists. Nothing hurts him.

"What happened?" 

Who do I blame?

"Dream," Wilbur says. 

The Blood God wants more. He wants the name of every single person who stepped foot in Dream SMP. Who stood by while his brother bled. Who fought against him. Who failed to protect him.

Tommy is dead. Who killed him?

Was it you? He looks at his brother. The general. Tommy's role-model. The person he'd follow to the ends of the Earth.

But Wilbur looks broken. Wilbur looks far too small for his 6'5" frame, curled up and unloading regret and sorrow into Phil's embrace.

Was it you? He looks at his father who let Tommy go. Who made him believe he could do anything, even start revolutions and topple dictatorships.

No, not Phil. Never Phil.

 _Was it you?_ Technoblade, who taught Tommy fire, and war, and to never, ever back down without a fight.

He takes a breath and kneels down next to his family.

Dream. Dream killed his brother.

_Dream must pay._

That is his truth. 

_Dream must pay._

It's the drumbeat under his skin as he straps on his armor.

It's the poison that coats his tongue as steps through the portal.

It's the whisper in his ear as he takes in the gunmetal clouds and bitter breeze.

It's the chant in his mind as stares down the figure in green.

_Dream must pay._

2.

Sweat drips down his brow.

_It's a hot, humid night._

Technoblade glares at him from across the arena.

_Tommy stands behind him, back to back._

Dream takes a breath.

Contrary to popular belief, it's not good to be king.

Even now, with Eret as the "king" of the SMP, Dream's shoulders still slump under the weight of an invisible mantle.

That day he met Tommy, Wilbur, and Tubbo outside of their ridiculous fumigation wall with talk of _revolution_ and _independence_ , he knew their happy, little world would never be the same.

The two roads diverged in front of his eyes, each growing further apart with every word from Tommy's mouth. 

If Dream gave in, he'd be a spineless king.

But because he didn't, he's a heartless man.

Don't they see? He can't give something for nothing.

Give them one brick, they'll build a wall. Give them two, they'll build a nation. Give them three, who knows what they'll do?

It's his job to maintain order in the SMP. It's fun for them, to be the ones who raise hell and sell it in a bottle, but it's not to be the one cleaning up the messes.

War, peace, friends, enemies. It's much harder when it's all your call. 

If they want what they seek, they must earn it. 

This is his reason as he pens the _Declaration of War_.

This is his reason as he walks ten paces.

Earn it.

_He exhales and releases the arrow._

Dream loads his crossbow.

There's a boy in the corner of his vision. He doesn't turn to look.

3.

The three men exited the portal at L'Manburg with little to no fanfare.

On the first day, they lie low, focusing on preparations for the days to come. L’Manburg has just barely scraped out of a war, they are in no condition for another.

Luckily, this wasn’t going to be a war.

The Great War was a display of grandiosity and bullshit. This is a death match.

Philza spends his time with Tubbo, grinding gear and supplies.

Technoblade trains with the rest of L’Manburg, turning soldiers into warriors.

The day they are ready is the day Nihachu knocks Technoblade to the ground and holds a sword under his chin, eyes blazing with a ferocity all the more fearsome on her kind countenance. 

They crash into the Dream SMP with the fanfare of a brass band.

Punz and Eret are the first to greet them, netherite armor and grim determination. L'Manburg's army is heavily out geared by the stacked juggernauts of the Dream SMP (even five years in Hardcore can't turn dirt into diamonds), but they make up for this in numbers and passion. 

George and Sapnap join the fray, twin whirlwinds of gleaming netherite. Dream is nowhere to be seen.

The battlefield looks like this:

Niki and Phil against Punz.

Tubbo and Jack against George.

Fundy and Wilbur against Eret.

Techno against Sapnap.

Dream's right-hand man squints at him from beneath his helmet. A blink and he's gone in a shower of purple sparks.

Techno grits his teeth, fingering his own enderpearl. _So that's how you want to play it_.

He gives chase.

Dream darts across the arena, firing off crossbow shots behind him every so often.

Technoblade dodges each one, not bothering to flinch as one gets a little too close. He throws himself behind a pillar and watches a bolt whiz past. His chest heaves as he counts his own stock of ammunition.

In. Out. In. Out.

He bursts out from around his post, pushing Dream back with successive swings of his sword.

Adrenaline pumps through his veins. Dream is good. This shouldn't be surprising considering the whispers Techno has heard about him, but there's a thrill in his chest that hasn't been there since he battled his old senseis. 

Swing. Duck. Shoot. Block. Dodge. Parry. Do it again.

In. Out.

In.

Out.

4.

There's a strange sort of rhythm to their clash. One Dream’s never reached with anyone before. He wonders what it'd be like to fight this man without ghosts hanging over their heads.

An arrow skims past his hood.

Dream remembers the events of that night in a detached sort of way. 

He was next to the socializing club.

Tommy was at the other end.

The bow was heavy. The air was sticky. Tommy was swimming until he wasn't. It's all jumbles of meaningless details he feels with all the acuteness of a secondhand account.

He was on a mound of dirt by the water's edge.

Tommy was lying down on his front, feet floating behind him in the water.

The simultaneous chime of eight _(not nine)_ communicators, a final chorus, a death knell.

He was standing there.

_TommyInnit was shot by Dream._

Hands tugging at his hoodie, Sapnap and George dragging him away from the site.

Being shoved through the tunnel into his base, autopilot carrying him into the wooden room.

The crash of splintering wood as Sapnap hurls his helmet into the wall of chests. George, quickly stumbling to the other side of the small room, bracing himself against a tower of crafting tables.

"What now?" he hears himself say.

Neither of them respond.

It would be easy. It would be so easy to just give it to them now. But Dream will be damned if he can't finish what he started.

He can't give something for nothing.

_But that wasn't nothing, was it?_

He squeezes his eyes shut. 

Tommy lost the duel. The terms were independence for L'Manburg if and only if Tommy won.

And Dream is a man of his word.

(But Tommy—TommyTrusty, founder of Business Bay—understood this as well.)

"Dream?" Sapnap is holding his helmet in one hand and a beat-up book in the other.

_"Alright Tommy, you're a businessman. I'm a businessman."_

_"Deal? Or no deal?"_

Objectively, they're terrible last words. _Suck it green boy._ Not exactly epitaph worthy.

His hands are shaking and his throat stings. Tears slip down his chin onto the paper. 

What a stupid fucking kid.

He looks up to his right-hand men, passes the book back to Sapnap, and pushes his mask carefully in place.

Dream can't give something for nothing, but this he can do.

Dream swings, grazing the tips of pink hair.

At the same time, the edge of the other man's sword scrapes across the surface of his mask.

He backs up.

Technoblade lashes out again and Dream raises his shield just in time. The blade lodges in the wood.

He smirks, bringing his axe down and forcing Techno to release the handle.

His opponent backs up, weaponless.

Technoblade is good, but Dream is better. 

5.

Techno narrows his eyes.

He kicks out, sending his sword into the air and forcing Dream's shield up. His foot collides with Dream's chest.

He catches his sword before the other man hits the ground.

Techno stands above the crumpled form on the ground, copper rays of unforgiving sunlight beating down on his back.

Sapnap lays in a pile of what used to be a wall.

Technoblade doesn't feel too bad about the other man's probably broken back, after all, he had some nice bricks and cobblestone to cushion his fall. Any long-term injuries he sustains aren't Techno's fault. How was he supposed to know the buildings in this SMP were so fragile? Really, if they can't handle the weight of two heavily armored men crashing into them, then they should be rebuilt anyways.

He hums to himself as he loots the body. It's a familiar tune, probably one of Wilbur's.

 _Golden apples. Enderpearls. Strength potions._ All stuff Sapnap won't be needing for the foreseeable future.

He steps away from the body and looks around.

There's a llama across the pond.

He shrugs.

One foot inches out and nudges Sapnap's body into the water.

He watches the armored figure sink into the depths.

Maybe the other man will wake up. Maybe he won't. It's not Techno's problem.

He hears the sound of distant explosions. A smile crosses his face. Tubbo must finally be pulling out the stash of TNT.

6.

Dream thinks of George the day after, stoically staring out over the land they own.

Dream picked his way over through the ruins of Tommy's base, kicking down the rickety wooden fence to stand beside him.

_"One day, George, the sun will set on my time here and will rise with you, as the new king."_

"Was it worth it?" his friend asks quietly.

He breathes in, pretends it doesn't burn, lets it out and chooses his words carefully.

"It's going to have to be," he says.

There's movement beside him and he turns to see George staring at him. Not for the first time, Dream curses the blank shield of his goggles. (Though it’s not like he can talk.)

"I never cared about the war, you know?" George says, "Independence or none. It never mattered to me. But you, you were so adamant on white flags and warning shots. And now we've done it and you're acting like you're the one who got shot last night,"—(He doesn't flinch)—"What was it for, Dream?”

It sounds a bit too much like an accusation.

_If you stand for nothing, Dream, what will you fall for?_

He fires back, ”Well, what about you then, huh? If you didn't care about any of it, then why'd you fight?"

”I did it for you, asshole." George scoffs. "It was all for you.”

His friend is angry in a way that George doesn’t get, drawn eyebrows and set jaw.

”I’m by your side, Dream, but next time, figure yourself out before you throw the first piece of TNT.”

George turns away, looking forwards to the buildings and the colors he can't see.

Dream stares out at trees, walls, and paths and tries to feel like he’s won anything.

Dream’s back hits rough stone tiles. All the air rushes out of his lungs.

Techno's sword comes down in an unforgiving arc.

His mask shatters. He shuts his eyes as plastic shards scatter across the arena floor.

And for the first time, a thought:

_What if I lose?_

7.

Technoblade raises his sword again, ready for the final blow. Before he can react, the man on the ground pulls out a crossbow, firing a bolt that knocks his sword from his hand. His weapon clatters somewhere far behind him. 

Dream moves to get up, but Techno stops him with a stomp on his leg. Something cracks under his boot. Dream lets out a strangled noise.

He grasps for arrows but comes up empty.

His eyes fall on Dream's discarded axe.

He finds Wilbur first. His brother is fighting someone in an empty stretch of land by what seems to be the remains of a burned down house.

Fundy is nowhere to be seen, presumably lying injured in a bush or crater somewhere.

Wilbur's opponent is facing the other way from Techno which makes it all too easy to knock him over with a blow to the back.

When the man rolls over, he comes face to face with the tip of Technoblade's sword.

Techno looks down the line of his blade into blank eyes.

The man in front of him is in garb reminiscent of his own kingly attire. However, Techno is in full diamond armor while the other is outfitted in enchanted netherite. It's no matter, really, the strongest armor in the world won't stop Techno from slicing clean through his unprotected neck.

Mid-swing, a hand catches his wrist. He looks back to Wilbur. His brother's gaze is locked on Eret.

"Will?"

Something in Wilbur’s face hardens. He releases Techno's arm.

"Nevermind."

Techno frowns. Distantly, he thinks that expression looks _wrong, wrong, wrong_ on his older brother.

He draws back his arm, ready again.

Eret closes his eyes.

He hears a whistle. He barely looks up in time to see the fletching of a bolt as it forces his sword out of his hand.

"Enough," the call comes from higher ground on the wooden path.

Dream stands there, crossbow leveled at Technoblade's head.

"I heard you wanted my attention."

The axe is an unfamiliar, but not too foreign weight in his hands.

It's heavy as he draws it back.

Gravity, muscle memory, _fate_ bring down his blade. 

But at the last second something else stops him.

8.

His own axe reflects the afternoon light into his face.

Red eyes stare down unsympathetically. The last thing he will ever see.

Death wears a crown and grim satisfaction. He forces himself to look back. He's not scared. He's not. (He wonders if Tommy was...)

His leg hurts, but it's a distant sort of pain. All he feels is the stone tiles digging into his elbows. All he feels is the bead of sweat rolling down his forehead.

He pants, hyperaware of his own movements.

The axe hovers a centimeter from his neck.

He's pacing the crafting table floor of the community house, George half-seated on a chest and Sapnap by the exit.

This is the first time he's seen Sapnap in days. The younger man hadn't left his home since the day after the war ended when Dream sent him to L'Manburg with news of Tommy's bargain.

He wishes they'd all stop moping around. Like they hadn't just won a war. Like they were the bad guys. Like he'd—

Dream was sick of it. Sick of the way Purpled hadn't come out of his UFO. The way Ponk veered off the path when he saw him coming. The way George looked at him, was looking at him right now. Sick of the heavy, churning feeling that hadn't left his chest since the war started and even now that it was over.

So, he's here. Pacing and talking. Talking shit. Shit he doesn't even mean that spills out without a thought. 

"This is better for him, really. I mean, if you think about it, this is the best thing that's ever happened to him. Everyone's acting like Tommy made some great sacrifice. Like he was so noble and brave. They've all forgotten what an annoying little piece of shit he was. He got to die a hero—"

"He died a child, _"_ Sapnap's interjection surprises both of them, from the look on the other man's face. He looks down. "He was a child."

9.

Clarity.

Killing this monster will not bring back his little brother.

This was Tommy's friend. (This is Tommy's murderer.)

In another world, maybe he was Techno's too. (Will Techno be his?)

All of his instincts scream at him to let the axe fall. It would be easy. It would be _so fucking easy._

Dream stares up at him, chest heaving, eyes full of manic energy.

He has freckles.

It's strange.

Technoblade adjusts his grip.

He and Tommy used to spar together. That was their thing. They'd find a nice empty area and just go at it for hours, switching between swords and axes, throwing in shields, and fishing rods, and bows to add to the challenge.

Tommy was a great student. Eager to improve and unafraid to fail contrary to the soreness and bragging he projected to the world.

His little brother. The conundrum wrapped in a contradiction and tied together with a fib. 

The most mature child Techno had ever known. Rude and brash but polite and considerate. War mongering yet reasonable when it counted the most.

_"You just don't fight fire with fire. And that is why we'll win the war."_

That boy is gone.

And this man— _barely a man—_ is nothing to him.

Someone's unclogged all the hunger and fury that had been driving him and now all he's left to do is apathetically watch them swirl down the drain.

He's tired all of the sudden, acutely aware of the soreness of his muscles and how heavy the axe is in his hand.

This man is nothing.

10.

The Blood God stares at him.

Just

stares

at him.

Dream bares his teeth. "Do it," he says, "kill me."

And Technoblade with dull scarlet eyes and a diamond axe, he... he...

He walks away.

Dream stares after him.

Crimson cape and blood trail behind him. One arm moves up to his face and a pig mask clatters to the arena floor. He throws out his other arm and the axe goes flying, embedding into the wall across the arena.

Dream snaps out of his stupor.

"Kill me!" he shouts, slamming his fist on the ground. "Kill me!"

His boots are silent on the stone floor.

"Turn around, you fucking coward!"

Technoblade turns around.

"Yeah, that's right! Come on! You know you want to! You should!"

The formidable figure looms over him, but Dream doesn't care.

"Do it!" he hisses, "Do it now!"

Technoblade doesn't move for any weapon or item.

Quicker than Dream can track, he slams his foot down.

_Crunch._

Dream's fingers snap under the heel of his boot.

He howls, dropping flat down, skull knocking against the hard ground.

_Crunch._

Technoblade grinds down on his other hand and leans in.

"You will never hold a sword again. You will never aim another arrow," The Blade speaks directly into his ear. "Don't mistake this for mercy or weakness. Just because I'm not killing you today does not mean I will hesitate the next time we cross paths. Leave this land. Don't come back. Pray that I never catch a glimpse of your mask ever again."

Dream is left there with a damnation, a broken mask, and nothing more.

_9_

_8_

_7_

_6_

_5_

_4_

_3_

_2_

_1._

_A boy stands before him, braces smile and bright blue eyes._

_He reaches out. Welcome to the Dream Team SMP._

_The boy clasps his hand._

_Dream, you and I are going to be the best of friends._

**Author's Note:**

> sorry if you found that anticlimatic, you can just pretend it ended in "who lives, who dies," if thats so.  
> look, i wouldve loved to have techno and phil just rampage and kill everything and everyone, but then i remembered that stream where tommy was all "we can't fight fire with fire" and "an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind" and i was like shit... (also i rly don't have the heart to have techno kill dream)  
> there was a scene in my head of techno being like "i will spare you" and then phil waltzing in and lobbing dreams head off with an axe anyways...  
> if anyone does want to write the fire and death version of this conclusion, you fully have my permission to, but here's my take. i hope that was an okay enough conclusion to the series (maybe i'll do another midquel if inspiration strikes), i really struggled to get this one out. anyways, comments are always super appreciated, i read all of them, they really make my day!


End file.
